ST. MORITZ, Switzerland (AP) Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States built a significant lead in the opening run of women's slalom on Saturday at the season-ending World Cup finals.
The Olympic champion leads Nastasia Noens of France by 0.72 seconds. Swiss skier Wendy Holdener is third, a second behind Shiffrin.
Frida Hansdotter of Sweden, who clinched the World Cup slalom title earlier this month with a race to spare, has 1.26 to make up in the second run.
Shiffrin is unbeaten in slalom racing since February 2015, but missed five races during a two-month injury layoff and couldn't capture a fourth successive crystal globe in the discipline.
The 21-year-old Shiffrin has 18 slalom wins in total and just needs one more to surpass Sweden's Anja Parson for fifth place among women.
